Digital Twins for Automated Structural Health Monitoring and Intelligent Maintenance of Floating and Monopile Offshore Wind Turbines

This PhD studentship is offered in the Department of Engineering at City, University of London.

This research aims to develop a common digital infrastructure to have a Digital Twin (DT) of both floating and monopile offshore wind turbines. A DT is a cyber-physical system that must represent physical reality at a level of accuracy suited to its purposes. The extent of realism depends on three essentials: modelling, data and visualisation.

In this context, the project will first develop a simulation engine for a realistic numerical representation of the physical behaviour of the assets, combining Finite Elements Analysis (FEA) and multi-physics environments (e.g., wind, waves, earthquakes, etc).

Second, a modern flexible, modular and scalable software architecture will be developed to establish the DT virtual environment, to host and interact with simulation engines.

Third, the DT will be used as a synthetic simulator to produce real-life sensor-like data, of controlled damage and undamaged stages of the assets, for data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven solutions for structural health monitoring and damage detection.

The chosen candidate will have the opportunity of working with a multi-disciplinary group of researchers, whose background span from civil and mechanical engineering to computer science. Moreover, there will be opportunities for visiting other research groups, such as the world-leading Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) in the University of Cambridge.

Skills and qualifications:

The candidate should have an upper second-class BSc/BEng/MEng (or equivalent, or higher) degree in civil engineering or mechanical engineering.

They should demonstrate aptitude for original research and possess a good understanding of structural dynamics, advanced structural analysis, structural health monitoring and FEA. Ideally, the successful candidate should have proven skills in coding (Python and/or Matlab).

How to apply:

Visit our Civil Engineering research degree web page for further information on making a formal PhD application. You should enter the title of the research project as your proposal when applying.

Duration of appointment:

The Scholarship is initially for 3 Years, and the starting date is flexible upon candidate’s availability, but no further than September 2023.

Initial informal enquiries can be made to Dr Miguel Bravo-Haro at miguel.bravo-haro@city.ac.uk

For additional information

https://www.city.ac.uk/prospective-students/finance/funding/sst-doctoral-studentships/_recache#accordion725305-header725310

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

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